Fanning the fears on genetics issues

By The Daily News

Published: Tuesday, July 8, 2014 at 11:58 AM.

Other GMOs being developed at the University of Florida include a strawberry that can be grown without fungicides. A researcher involved in that effort observed that the crop likely won’t go beyond the lab without a change in public attitudes.

“You have solutions that can help the environment, help farmers and help people in the developing world, and you can’t use it,” said Ken Folta, professor and chairman of the university’s Horticultural Sciences Department.

Of course, supporters of GMOs are not beyond fault in hindering a reasonable debate of the issue.

Researchers are sometimes guilty of overstating the benefits of GMOs and failing to acknowledge problems with industrial agriculture. Energy spent complaining about an expensive regulatory process would be better used ensuring that process is robust enough to inspire public confidence.

The world’s farmers face increasing challenges in the decades ahead in feeding a growing population. GMOs certainly won’t solve all the world’s hunger problems, but it could play a more significant role in addressing them if debates about their use involved more science and fewer scare tactics.

A version of this editorial first appeared in the The Sun in Gainesville, Fla., a Halifax Media Group newspaper.

Genetic engineering is such a polarizing topic that it is hard to have an even-handed debate of the issue.

Some opponents of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, spread false claims about safety while ignoring the vast amount of research to the contrary.

That frustrates University of Florida researchers who have made advances in genetic engineering that might provide benefits in fighting crop diseases and reducing the need for pesticides — if they could get beyond public misconceptions.

University of Florida researchers have taken a gene found in bell peppers and transferred it to tomatoes. The process has made tomatoes that are resistant to a particularly troublesome crop disease and have a higher yield.

Contrary to scare stories about so-called Frankenfoods, these methods represent a more technologically advanced way of doing the kind of crop breeding that has been happening for millennia.

But tomato growers worry they wouldn’t be able to sell a GMO product, hampering the ability of researchers to attract investors.

“People are afraid, they don’t understand why, they are just told they should be,” said Sam Hutton, a UF plant scientist involved in the research. “The anti-GMO crowd screams really loud, and there is a lot of fearmongering. It sounds bad to people who don’t understand the science.”

Other GMOs being developed at the University of Florida include a strawberry that can be grown without fungicides. A researcher involved in that effort observed that the crop likely won’t go beyond the lab without a change in public attitudes.

“You have solutions that can help the environment, help farmers and help people in the developing world, and you can’t use it,” said Ken Folta, professor and chairman of the university’s Horticultural Sciences Department.

Of course, supporters of GMOs are not beyond fault in hindering a reasonable debate of the issue.

Researchers are sometimes guilty of overstating the benefits of GMOs and failing to acknowledge problems with industrial agriculture. Energy spent complaining about an expensive regulatory process would be better used ensuring that process is robust enough to inspire public confidence.

The world’s farmers face increasing challenges in the decades ahead in feeding a growing population. GMOs certainly won’t solve all the world’s hunger problems, but it could play a more significant role in addressing them if debates about their use involved more science and fewer scare tactics.

A version of this editorial first appeared in the The Sun in Gainesville, Fla., a Halifax Media Group newspaper.